Marathon LOTR/TH WIP Custom Builds..Reaper/Rider Wraith Redone & Finished.

That is looking great.

Thanks guys! Spent all morning hacksawing, filing dremelling to get the tubes the right length, flat edged and have a compression/friction fit since the OD's and ID's were off by about a mm or so. The chains are now permanently attached to the weapon's ends but the staff segments are free to disconnect from each other so they can either form a rigid staff weapon or a flexible glaive, the sections can also be configured by being joined or separated in more configurations than I can count so they can be nunchucks, triple staffs, a staff with one or two flail weapons etc.. Needs to be tidied up then painted, probably should have painted the chain first but c'est la vie.. I also added more detail to the tops of the forearm armour as it was looking a bit spartan compared to the rest of the figure but blends in well now and done on both forearms.

Nice additional detail on the vambraces, and that weapon looks like serious trouble for anyone coming up against your Sauron.

Superb stuff! If you don't have a sign on your door saying Genius At Work, you need one. I know that some of the time I keep thinking some of your ideas won't work, but, I should have and keep faith as you always pull it off with great aplomb in the end. This Wraith army is shaping up to be some of your best work to date.

CHEERS!

Really cool looking weapons.

GubernatorFan wrote:Nice additional detail on the vambraces, and that weapon looks like serious trouble for anyone coming up against your Sauron.

Or to himself, I wouldn't want to play with one! Lucky he's powerful sorcerer as I don't think he's a Shaolin Monk!

Rogerbee wrote:Superb stuff! If you don't have a sign on your door saying Genius At Work, you need one. I know that some of the time I keep thinking some of your ideas won't work, but, I should have and keep faith as you always pull it off with great aplomb in the end. This Wraith army is shaping up to be some of your best work to date.

CHEERS!

 Cheers!

Stryker2011 wrote:Really cool looking weapons.

Thanks Stryker! More on those below, showing configurations (had to so more filing this morning for tolerances but all fits together nicely now). Turns out painting the chain after assembly was actually a piece of cake to get full coverage. The war hammer has been upped in the aggressive and dangerous scale x10! I used steel crossbow pistol bolt tips after dremelling out the holes in the wood which is actually MDF, the stink and copious smoke brought back memories of building prototypes in the workshops at uni to be used as moulds in the vacuum formers!

I give you weapons, weapons , lots of pretty weapons Men, men, they can't live without them wrote:

A slight mod to the Defleppard song!

Yikes! That's gonna' hurt!

I think Stryker summed it up perfectly.

Some pretty mighty weapons there, Peter Jackson would have to have got an 18 if he'd wanted to show the results of them hitting someone.

CHEERS!

Damn, those weapons are BRUTAL! Especially impressed with that modular staff/ax/max. Awesome stuff.

Stryker2011 wrote:Yikes! That's gonna' hurt!

GubernatorFan wrote:I think Stryker summed it up perfectly.

Yup! and since they are sharp, heavy and metal I'm trying not to drop them on my bare feet!

Rogerbee wrote:Some pretty mighty weapons there, Peter Jackson would have to have got an 18 if he'd wanted to show the results of them hitting someone.

CHEERS!

LOL! His Orc and Uruk-Hai weapons were pretty gruesome, more so than these I think and would certainly give you tetanus! Ironic that the animation version of LOTR had way more blood and gore when you compare it to the live action movies.

ReverendSpooky wrote:Damn, those weapons are BRUTAL!  Especially impressed with that modular staff/ax/max.  Awesome stuff.

Cheers! Well why not make something do ten things when it only needs to do one?! Yeah it's a bit overkill (pun?) but was an engineering candle to a moth so to speak.

Some pics of them painted black awaiting the silvers and showing the scale of the war hammer, remember Sauron is 18" or more tall.
I'm also making a start on the throne mapping out the sections to cut (this will take a while with steel sheet cutters, I need a full size hacksaw but can't find mine) and what to bend to make a steel origami throne base; just as well I found that road sign since it seems the perfect size!

You got away with more in animation. Just look at Tom and Jerry!

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:You got away with more in animation. Just look at Tom and Jerry!

CHEERS!

I don't remember blood and guts in Tom & Jerry, Ren & Stimpy sure but those were aimed more at students and stoners! LOL.

Okay been one of those days where multiple attempts are in order to achieve what you want. Carved two long lines with the dremell and cutting wheel, decided it was way too noisy and not good for the dremell in this heat either so went around the corner to Timber & Ply and bought a full sized but thin hacksaw. Started attacking it with that but no joy at all! Just got stuck on every thrust (works in reverse to a wood saw), the flexibility of the blade and the steel I was cutting didn't help but the biggest culprit was the reflective coating fused to it,  can't be pealed off and it's like a combination of carbon-fibre and super tough duct tape so the teeth just get trapped. I went back to use the dremell only to discover I've killed it again!! So that's another unwanted rebuild and probably more parts all over again . So with no other choice I went back to the tin snips, which, provided you manage to keep one section of steel sheet/plate out of the way and wear good gloves worked out really well! It's slightly less complex a base than I had planned as I had incorporated armrests too but between me being half asleep when I marked off the final cut lines in red (not shown as I got my geometry wrong by one stupid inch long cut that scuppered it) and being fed up with cutting an inch a minute; the arm rest are not there yet. I haven't decided on the height of the back of the throne yet as there are a lot of variables involved to consider but you can see the seat fits just right as there will be a bit of a dais for his feet. Nothing is set in place permanently jet, just beaten into shape with a mallet .

Hmmm. I wonder if making the throne out of thin sheets of wood, then assembled, would have been easier...? Metal is nice, but as you clearly pointed out, a pain to work with. Hope it all works out, regardless, to your satisfaction.

It's great how the more primitive low tech methods are often the best ones. Hope you can salvage the Dremel, if not I expect a new one wouldn't be too much hassle. Must dig mine out before I move.

CHEERS!

I am sorry for your troubles, but have no doubt that your creativity and perseverance will triumph all the same. And your Dremel will whirl again.

Cheers guys! Definitely been one of those days, had a bunch of gun stuff lined up, all ready to order that I could only find one of each available just waiting for me to get some money and...got the money but the  parts and guns are all gone now, sold out everywhere...they won't be back in stock ever either ..bugger..spent all day searching for replacements but nothing so going to bed with my book and some cookies.. new day tomorrow.

Such is life, the trick is not to give up looking. Things can turn up when you least expect them.

CHEERS!

Stryker2011 wrote:Hmmm. I wonder if making the throne out of thin sheets of wood, then assembled, would have been easier...? Metal is nice, but as you clearly pointed out, a pain to work with. Hope it all works out, regardless, to your satisfaction.

I have some MDF fake Parquet flooring planks a neighbour was chucking out but I think all the sawing and fitting would have been more work to be honest and I don't like working with wood on anything to be honest. With metal you can bash it into shape with minimal mess and no sneezing!

Rogerbee wrote:It's great how the more primitive low tech methods are often the best ones. Hope you can salvage the Dremel, if not I expect a new one wouldn't be too much hassle. Must dig mine out before I move.

CHEERS!

Yup, just wish house builders thought that way! LOL.

GubernatorFan wrote:I am sorry for your troubles, but have no doubt that your creativity and perseverance will triumph all the same. And your Dremel will whirl again.

I tackle the dremell today to check the damage to it and my wallet! Managed to salvage it using parts from my old Kinzo rotary tool last time.

Rogerbee wrote:Such is life, the trick is not to give up looking. Things can turn up when you least expect them.

CHEERS!

Very true, just going to leave it for a bit as it irked me some! Might have found something better or not depending on the seller and their stance on my RIF defence, it's not as set in stone as I thought and shops have the right to refuse sale to anyone for any reason which is a bugger for a collector and not a skirmisher, of course typically my stuff never leaves the house unlike skirmishers' kit that does all the time .

Settled on a height for the back of the throne purely for structural integrity! Any higher and it wouldn't be long enough to fold over and reach the other sections for support . Decided on duct tape as I'm not in the mood to piss around with drills and rivet guns and you only have to skew a hole slightly to muck it all up! The tape will be covered of course.

Ahh Duct Tape. The universal fix-it.

Will you be adding arm rests eventually like you planned?

I am glad to see you pressing on, undaunted.

Stryker2011 wrote:Ahh Duct Tape. The universal fix-it.

Will you be adding arm rests eventually like you planned?

Yup! They'll probably be more intricate now too.

GubernatorFan wrote:I am glad to see you pressing on, undaunted.

Thanks! Just took the dremell apart and there's no obvious sign of damage so I guess parts swapping and multimeter testing is called for...bugger..

Looking good!

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:Looking good!

CHEERS!

Thanks Roger! Well it's a base to work on. Got all the fun stuff ahead! He's going to be sitting on his own little 'Castle Greyskull' from He-Man!

I'm going with an organic theme of bone but to look like it has been carved out of a black/white/silver marble, a bit like Sauman's tower but not using all the angled armature of his lair's design. I'm going to have to work out a marbling technique with acrylics and acetone free nail polish remover as I've only ever done it with oils and turpentine on canvas and cork and that was 25 years ago!
I've taken pics of a very basic mock up, the large skull will be cut at the red line and using the bottom section most likely splayed out to cover the front and not stick out a silly amount. The brown 'carved rock' benches will be cut up for various parts like a dais, part of the armrests and general textured covering. All those bone parts will be used in decoration such as buttresses around the 'skirt' of the throne etc with the larger skulls as pommels on the armrests. Since the dremell is down I'll be doing a lot of hacksawing! I'll probably need to use plaster of paris to fill in all kinds of gaps as it would cost a fortune in milliput!

Interesting!

You'll have to show me which Movie Maniacs you have in your inventory.

CHEERS!

What an eclectic compilation of materials you have assembled and are preparing to deploy for the throne!

In the words of Mr. Spock: "Fascinating." That's a lot of cool material to work with.

Lol, will post follow up pics when my PC finishes installing Win10 properly.

Oh boy! Good luck, anything but W10 Pro and you could be in for some fun. If you possibly can, avoid the Fall and April Creators Updates at all costs!! PM me of you have any issues.

CHEERS!

PS (Hope you can go back to 7 if you need to.)